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10 Ways to Protect the Environment — and Your Own Health

More and more people are interested in going green, buying organic, and ultimately protecting the environment, for a number of different reasons.

"The quality of your life can improve, you can save money with green living choices, and you can protect the health of your family," says Crissy Trask, founder of Greenmatters.com and author of It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living. You can start making easy yet meaningful changes in your life today with the following 10 ideas.

Leave Your Car at Home

Every time you drive solo in an SUV, you're adding more than 1.5 pounds of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases to the environment with each mile. Change your driving habits and you make an immediate impact on the environment. Take short trips on foot or by bike instead, and you'll also make an immediate impact on your health. While riding your bike at a leisurely 6 miles per hour, you can burn 240 calories an hour or more. Walking at a normal pace of 2 to 3 miles per hour, you can burn up to 300 calories or more each hour.

Think Reusable When You Drink

Because of recent reports of chemical contaminants in bottled water, many people are becoming concerned about drinking water from disposable plastic bottles, and especially about using plastic bottles to feed infants. Beyond the possible health concerns, buying bottled water is a "ridiculous use of plastic and an incredible waste of money," says Trask. A better option: Buy an environmentally-friendly reusable stainless-steel canteen-like bottle for carrying your water around. For hot beverages, use a thermos so you won't contribute to the "staggering" number of disposable coffee cups and lids that are thrown out each year, she says.

Slip Into Something a Little More Healthy

According to the World Wildlife Fund, perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) used on some clothes to help keep them wrinkle-free can be toxic to the environment and have also been linked with health concerns including cancer. Choosing more natural fabrics is a greener approach, however, Trask says not all natural fabrics are eco-friendly ; growing cotton, for instance, can require heavy pesticide use. Look online for specialty stores in your area that sell clothes made fabrics produced using the least amount of harsh chemicals, like hemp, organic cotton, wool, or silk. This will maximize your contribution to the environment and minimize your exposure to potentially toxic chemicals.

Choose Locally Grown or Organic Food

Fruits and vegetables are often shipped hundreds of miles or more from other states or countries before they reach your supermarket, which means they may have been picked weeks before you eat them. However, if you buy locally grown produce from a farmers' market, for instance, the food is likely to be freshly picked. You'll also have the chance to ask the farmer if the fruits and vegetables are organic, or if any pesticides or other chemicals that could pose a danger to the earth, or your health, were used on them.

Clean Up Your Water and the Environment

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, more than 90 percent of water systems in the country meet EPA tap water quality standards, which means that some unwanted stuff could still be coming through your faucet. According to Consumer Reports, you can find a variety of water filters that remove common contaminants. Trask recommends Brita water-filtering pitchers because the company recycles used filters, preventing them from ending up in landfills.

Do Some Old-School Cleaning

When you clean with harsh cleansers, "inevitably some of these chemical components escape into the environment," Trask says. Such chemicals have been linked with a variety of health issues, including skin rashes and asthma flare-ups. "We can clean quite effectively with products our grandparents used. White vinegar or natural castile soap can be mixed with salt and baking soda to cut through mold or soap scum, and natural products like washing soda and borax can be used to clean floors and remove grease stains. One part vinegar and one part water in a spray bottle makes a glass cleaner, shower cleaner, floor cleaner, and toilet cleaner."

Make the World a Greener Place

Plant a tree (or a few!) in your yard as a family project. According to the Arbor Day Foundation, the long list of health- and environment-improving benefits of having trees around include reducing your air-conditioning costs by providing shade; possibly raising the property value and resale appeal of your home; pulling carbon dioxide out of the environment and creating oxygen; improved water quality; and providing you with calming surroundings.

Help Yourself to Less Meat, Help the Environment

Meat production has a big impact on the environment. Livestock industries generate 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions reported from the five major sectors (such as energy and agriculture) that participate in reporting. Considering only the agriculture sector, livestock industries account for more than 80 percent. In addition, pastures and land for crops to feed animals have taken the place of vast swaths of Amazon forests. Research has found that vegetarians are less likely to be obese, have lower cholesterol, and are less likely to have heart disease caused by blocked arteries. If you're considering the vegetarian route, or just want to cut back on meat, just be sure to get enough protein through other sources like peanut butter, beans, soy foods, and eggs.

Choose a Greener Way of Cleaning Clothes

Many dry cleaners use a chemical called perchloroethylene, or perc, which the International Agency for Research on Cancer has listed as a probable human carcinogen. After your clothes are dry-cleaned, some of the chemical remains in the fabric — you wear it next to your skin and it escapes into your home's environment, which is bad for you and the earth, Trask says. Instead, try investigating cleaners in your area that offer "wet cleaning" technologies that use water-based equipment to clean garments that previouslywere dry cleaned.

Go Organic: Grow Your Own Food!

Planting and maintaining an organic vegetable garden in your yard provides countless benefits. You can enjoy a variety of veggies that are far fresher and taste better than anything you'll find in the supermarket. You'll be sustaining yourself with food that didn't require fossil fuels for transportation. You'll have the peace of mind of knowing that pesticides weren't used on your vegetables. And you'll get months of exercise as you prepare the ground, plant the seeds, tend to your crops, and pick the food yourself.

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